Fastener with sliding attachment for garments, bags, and the like



June 18, 1935. J. FRANZE 2,005,116

FASTENER WITH SLIDING ATTACHMENT FOR GARMENTS, BAGS AND THE LIKE 521Filed Aug. 12, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 a l ,X y H t 1m m Ex l I l g 7 V Ill. X I s n w y f f q June 18, 1935. J. FRANZE 2,005,116

FASTENER WITH SLIDING ATTACHMENT FOR GARMENTS, BAGS AND THE LIKE FiledAug. 12, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 18, 1935 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE Johannes Franze, Liestal, near Basel, SwitzerlandApplication August 12, 1932, Serial No. 628,512 In Germany November 28,1929 5 Claims.

There are already known fastenings for garments such as jackets orgaiters and for hand and document bags, the so-called sliding-claspfasteners. The said fasteners comprise especially formed toothed metalborders which are attached to the parts to be connected to each otherand, by means of a suitable slide, are brought into and out of contactwith one another. In this way, the said borders are either fastened toone another, in the closing position. or, they are separated one fromanother in the open position. These known sliding-clasp fasteners,however, have the great disadvantage that they may easily be harmed andthat it is very diflicult or even impossible to repair them. Furthermoretheir appearance does not permit them to be employed in all cases; andit is necessary that the flaps of the clothing, bag or the like whichare to be connected to each other, should always remain in snugconnection with one another at one end and also in contact with thefastening members.

In contradistinction to this, the present invention consists in afastener with sliding attachment members for garments, bags and the likethe two borders of which are to be connected to each other, are providedwith thickenings or ribs being resilient in diameter in such a mannerthat they may be connected with each other by means of a number offastening attachment members shaped like open rings, sliding on saidthickenings or ribs. The said ring members are constructed and arrangedin such a manner as to press the said thickenings or ribs elastically orresiliently against each other and are connected to one another byflexible means in such a manner as to be parallel to each other, atleast when closing the fastener. The thickenings or ribs and the ringmembers may be arranged either so as to be visible on the outside of thegarment or other article (jacket or bag edges and so on) or on theinterior side thereof so as to remain invisible from outside. In thislatter case a handle, attached to the first, preferably enlarged slidingmember, and extending between the two borders of the articles, isarranged on the outside.

In order to wholly separate the flaps to be connected by theattachment, 1. e. to be enabled to open a jacket entirely if necessary,according to the invention the thickening of one border may be dividedinto a long part and a short part in such a manner that the shortdivided part which serves for collecting the attachment members when theattachment is in the open position, is fixed beside the correspondingend of the thickenings of the other border and a device is fastened tothis other border insuch a manner as to join flaps releasably in theexact position to the divided parts of the said divided thickeningbefore closing the sliding attachment. In addition to this, a specialdevice may be provided, by means of which the sliding attachment memberscan be wholly separated from the garments or other articles whenrequired, for instance for the purpose of cleaning or repair and so on.

In the accompanying drawings are shown some embodiments of the inventionby way of example.

Fig. 1 is a front view of the front part of a jacket with the newsliding-attachment arranged outside, in an open position,

Fig. 2 a similar view of the same jacket, when the attachment is closed,

Fig. 3 a view of two sliding-attachmentmembers connected to one another,

Fig. 4 a front elevation of the lower part of a jacket with asliding-attachment arranged outside for fully opening, the jacket,

Fig. 5 is a front view of a part of a handba with the sliding attachmentarranged on the interior side of the bag and in the half openedposition, a part being taken away,

Fig. 6 a view of the same attachment in the same position seen from theinterior of the bag,

Fig. '7 a part section of the same attachment on the line VII-VII inFig. 6 and Fig. 8 a front view of an opened ladys hand-bag with thesliding-attachment arranged on the inner side, the thickenings forguiding the sliding members extending beyond the one end of the bag,some parts being omitted.

Fig. 9 is a side view of the hand-bag shown in Fig. 5, some parts beingomitted.

Fig. 10 in the same manner as in Fig. 4 shows a corresponding embodimentadapted to be fully separated from the jacket.

In the first case according to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, a jacket is providedwith attachments according to the invention arranged outside. The twoflaps a, a" of the jacket to be closed are fixed to one another at thelower end, their borders or edges to be connected to each other whenclosing the fastener are thickened by the insertion or attachment ofstrips or other suitable members, so that when closing the fastener bymeans of the 0 sliding attachment members the two thickenings or ribs bso formed are snugly laid one against the other (Fig. 2) by means of thesliding ring members 0, moved therealong. The ring members which areapproximately C-shaped clasp the said ribs. Their ends 0''. are suitablyrounded off so as not to harm the cloth of the flaps a, a" or thecovering of the ribs b and to obtain a good sliding action along thelatter. The rings are constructed and arranged in such a manner as topress the said thickenings or ribs elastically or resiliently againsteach other. They are guided with sufllcient friction on the ribs 11, sothey cannot be displaced therefrom accidentally or unintentionally. Onthe outer sides of the v rings, small ringlike loops d are formed intoxwhich two thin chains 1 are hooked, one on the left hand side and one onthe right hand side: In this case the chains are placed in such amanner, that, as soon as the corresponding parts of the chains arestretched, the rings 0, c' are nearly equidistant from and parallel toeach other. Thus the garment or other article may be closed as far asnecessary by moving the plate g and its sliding members c connected toit by means of the chains I. In the extreme closed position (Fig. 2) thechains 1 are completely stretched out.

The lowest ring c at the point where the slit of the Jacket is closedup, i. e. where the two corresponding ends of the two borders are fixedto each other, is provided with pointed ends, by means of which it isfirmly fixed to the ribs b, whilst the uppermost ring is fixed to aplate a which serves as a handle for easily moving this ring, and bymeans of the chains f, also the other rings c when closing the jacket orother article as well as when opening it. At the same time that platemay serve as an ornament.

The slide (plate a), as well as the front side of the rings c, may beornamented or made quite plain, according to the requirements. Insteadof the chains 1, there may be used cords, ribbons and so on in order tosuit the appearance of the attachment to the different articles to befitted. In special cases only one relatively broad ribbon may beemployed, on the backside of which-on the left hand side and on theright hand side-the rings are fastened. Thus the latter are not visiblewhen the garment or other article is open or when it is closed. Thisribbon, which, moreover, can be ornamented in any desired manner,entirely covers the attachment.

The rings 0 can be pushed on to the ribs b, by arranging the parts a,a." together and by bringing the ribs b one beside the other, as iseasily to be understood from Fig. 2. It is advisable to secure thelowest ring 0' either by means of the pointed ends of the ring 0', asbefore said. Thus the lowest ring 0' is prevented from being removed ordisplaced or pushed downwards.

Fig. 4 shows, by way of example, another arrangement by means of whichany object may entirely and most conveniently be opened, without thenecessity of taking off the attachment at all.

In this case there is provided a sliding attachment for a jacket awith aright hand part or flap a and a left hand part or flap a". Theconnection of the two flaps is effected by means of the rings 0 withchains and a slide 1/ similar to those shown in Figs. 1 to 3. At theborder of the flap a a continuous rib b is provided, whilst the rib ofthe flap a" is divided. Its upper, longer end u, as in the arrangementaccording to Figs. 1 and 2, is arranged at the border of flap a. Itslower shorter end a, of a construction similar to that of the ribs b andu, is firmly fastened on a flap 12, fixed to the backside of the lowestpart of the flap a and extending a little farther upward than thedownwardly slid row of attachment members 0 with slide 1/ extending inthe position shown in Fig. 4. The rib-borders u and u have theiradjacent ends rounded. Immediately above the of a, on the flap 0, thesocket to of a small press button and above and to the left thereof, thesocket a: of a bigger press button are arranged. In'the flap 0 asuitable stiflening, for instance a small plate of metal or celluloid v,is inserted, which extends behind the ribs b, u and u in their fasteningposition and partially also behind the flaps a and a of the Jacket.Below the press. button socket a: heretofore mentioned, two othersimilar sockets a: are fixed upon the flap 0, whereas the studs .1." andw which belong to the press button sockets a: and w are fastened to thebackside of part a" of the jacket in such a manner, that, when the pressbuttons 2:, 1: and w, w are closed, the ends of the two rib-parts u, ulie exactly and snugly opposite to each other. Therefore, the slide 1!together with the attaching members c may easily and with littleresistance be drawn upwards from their lowest position shown by Fig. 4over the ends of u and u lying opposite to each other, and so the jacketa may be closed as far as wanted. In the same easy manner the slide 1!and the rings c can be drawn back on the piece u and on the lower end ofthe rib b; then, by opening the press buttons 2:, :c' and w, w the leftflap 1:" with the rib u may be completely separated from the right parta of the jacket and so the latter may be fully opened.

It is preferable to provide some means such as shown in Figs. 1, 2, 4and at the lower end of the ribs b and u so as to prevent the slidingrings from falling oil. Or, the lowest sliding member 0' may be fixedthere lest the attaching members, by mistake, be pulled off downwards orslip off. The lower end of rib-border u and the upper end of rib-borderu may be stiffened by means of impregnation, by inserting stiffeningpieces of celluloid, wood, metal or the like or by means of a coveringor in other suitable manner if necessary, the one end may be providedwith a point and the opposite end of the corresponding part with arecess. Thus, when closing the attachment, the said point may beintroduced into said recess, for the purpose of still better ensuringthe exact opposite positioning of the ends of the ribs u and u andthereby providing a smooth guiding of the sliding members.

If required, there may also be provided an arrangement, by means ofwhich the attachment can be wholly separated from the garment from timeto time, as for instance for the purpose of renewing the appearance orfor repair or in order to render it possible to clean the garmentwithout the sliding attachment. For these purposes it is necessary (seeFig. 10) to divide the rib b near its lower part as shown (line t), sothat the lower end of the upper part is recessed and the upper end ofthe lower part is tapered to be inserted into the recess of the upperpart, and to provide suitable fastening means for the adjacent ends ofthe two parts of the said rib b on the flap 1), an entirely fixed meansbeing provided for the lower part, and a releasable means, such as forexample a press button, being provided for the lower end of the upperpart corresponding to the press button 10, w for the rib u. Furthermoreit is necessary to lengthen the flap v laterally so that it reachesbehind the part a of the jacket (line a) and to fasten it there in sucha manner as to be releasable, but so as to occupy a quite definiteposition, as for instance by means of press studs 2. For taking off theattachment from the garment in this embodiment the sliding members 0 arepushed downwards to their lowest position upon the lower parts of theribs; and the flap v is thereupon released from the ribs b, u and theparts'a', a" of the jacket, by opening the various press studs.

Figs. 5-8 show an arrangement for a sliding attachment, in which the rowof sliding members is guided on the inside of the garment, bag or otherarticle. At the borders of a bag I strips 2 are arranged on the inside,which strips are provided over their whole length with thickenings orribs 3 projecting into the interior of the bag. At the upper and lowerends of the bag-opening the ribs are sewn together. Over these ribs 3C-shaped rings 4, II) with lateral ears II are guided, into which ears,on the right hand side and on the left hand side a thin chain 5, stringor the like is hooked asin the arrangements according to Figs. 1 to 4.The first sliding membet 4 simply consists of two rings l0, soldered oneto another. On the backside (in the interior of the bag, as shown inFig. 6) the end of a bow 6 is soldered to these rings. The said bowreaches to the outside, passing between the ribs and extending throughthe opening of the bag. It is connected with a plate I in such a manner,that .the latter can slide upon the strips 2. The bow 6 forms a closedeyelet lying on the plate in the longitudinal direction of theattachment. Into this eyelet a ring 8 carrying a ribbon or small loop 9of strap for opening and closing the attachment is inserted. The slidingattachment members 4, l and the parts of connection 5 are not visible atall from outside, only the how 6 and the plate I together with the ring8 and the loop 9, which parts being visible from its outside may be ofany color desired or may for instance be enameled or covered in anyother suitable manner. When operating the sliding attachment, by pullingat the loop 9 in the direction of the ribs 3, the plate I in connectionwith the broad ring 4 permits a smooth guiding on the strips 2 along theribs 3, so that the opening and the closing of the attachment is easy.The last ring member ID, at the end of the opening of the bag,preferably has pointed ends 0" (Fig. 3) by means of which the member isfixed firmly on the ribs 3.

If the object to be closed requires to be opened over its full length,the ribs guiding the sliding rings, are lengthened beyond one end borderof the garment or other articles as shown by way of example in Fig. 8for a ladys bag. The attachment is arranged in similar manner as thatshown in Figs. 5 to 7, on the inside of a bag IE to which, along theborders of the opening, strips I! are fixed. On the ribs 3, providedinside the strips l1, sliding rings with chains (not shown in Fig. 8)are guided just as shown in Figs. 5 to 7. To the bow 6 associated withthe first sliding member and passing through the opening of the bag, aplate I3 is connected by means of a ring I! rigidly fixed to or integralwith said plate and serves for pulling or pushing the sliding members.The circular plate I provided on the front side of the how 6 is guidedon the strips 11. Said strips I! with ribs 3 are prolonged beyond theborder l5 of the bag and provided with a cover l4, so that they remaininvisible from outside. The cover I4 is sufliciently long to enable allthe sliding members of the attachment, with the exception of the firstone connected to the bow 6, to be accommodated therein, so that the bagl6 can be opened in the full extent. The free end l8 of the cover may beornamented in any suitable manner.

The sliding movement of the rings 4, l0 upon the ribs 3, just as in thearrangementaccording to Figs. 1 to 3, is effected simply by pulling orpushing the bow 8 by means of'plate Land handle 8, 9 whereby the ringsII) are moved by means of the chains 5 successively and the strips 2 andthe ribs 3 are. definitely placed and held one beside the other by therings 4 and I0; and thus, the rings may easily be moved on the ribs. Thesame is the case with the plate I and the handle l2, l3 shown in Fig. 8.

The sliding attachment according to the invention can be made in anydesired suitable constructional form. Thus, for instance, it may be madeso as to be entirely opened for open jackets and the like, for instancein the manner shown in Fig. 4 for an outside sliding device, with thesole difference that in this case the slide is guided throughout thewhole length of the opening to be closed on the front side of thegarment.

The sliding attachment in the inside arrangement according to Figs. 5 to8, with the handle reaching outward through the opening, has the greatadvantage of being fully adaptable to a garment or other article of anydesign to which it is to be applied. Furthermore, it is not necessary toextend the handle beyond the opening so that it projects from thegarment when closed. This is of the highest importance for theappearance and in order to render it possible to employ the attachmentin any desired particular cases and to obtain comfortable use. Thesliding members of the attachment are precisely the same in every case.

The sliding attachment according to the invention is very simple andcheap to manufacture.

It may easily be applied for any suitable purpose even by unskilledpeople and can hardly ever become damaged on account of its simplicityand solidity. On the other hand, it may easily be repaired even byunskilled persons. Furthermore, if any part be damaged the slidingattachment according to the invention may be used further on, before theharm is removed, for instance by inserting a new part instead of thedamaged part.

I claim:

1. Fastener with sliding attachment members comprising in combination apair of fiaps having ribs on their adjacent edges to be releasablyconnected to each other, said ribs being elastical in thickness alongthe said edges, fastening attachment members slidable on said ribs, thediameter of said members being somewhat smaller than that of the tworibs, to keep the said ribs in elastically close juxtaposition, flexiblemeans for connecting the ends of said sliding 'members with each otherin such a manner, as

to keep them parallel to each other at least when closing the fastener,the first of the said sliding members to be moved along the said ribsbeing used as a handle for opening and closing the fastener.

2. Fastener with sliding attachment members comprising in combination apair of flaps having ribs on their adjacent edges to be releasablyconnected to each other, said ribs being elastical in thickness alongthe said edges and projecting towards the backside of the parts to bereleasably connected to each other, fastening attachment membersslidable on said ribs on the backside of the said flaps and adapted andshaped so as to keep the said ribs in elastically close juxtaposition,flexible means for connecting the ends of said sliding member with eachother in such a manner as to keep them parallel to each other,

at least when closing the fastener, the first of the said slidingmembers to be moved along the said ribs being adapted to be used as ahandle for opening and closing and being provided with a projectionreaching between the edges of the f fastener to be connected to eachother to the keep them in elastically close juxtaposition, first ofwhich sliding members being enlarged in the direction of the sliding andrigidly connected with a plate sliding on the front side of the bordersand being adapted to be used as a handle, flexible means for connectingthe ends of said sliding members with each other in such a manner as tokeep them parallel to each other at least when closing the fastener andmeans for securing the position of the last sliding member on said ribs.

4. Fastener with sliding attachment members comprising in combination apair of flaps having ribs on their adjacent edges to be releasablyconnected to each other, said ribs being elastical in thickness alongthe said edges, said ribs being prolonged beyond at least one of theends of the said edges to be connected to each other, fasteningattachment members slidable on said ribs and adapted and shaped so astokeep them in elastically close juxtaposition, flexible means forconnecting the ends of said sliding members with members on said ribs.

5. Fastener with sliding attachment members comprising in combination apair of flaps having ribs on their adjacent edges to be releasablyconnected to each other, said ribs being elastical in thickness alongthe said edges, said ribs being prolonged beyond at least one of theends of the said edges to be connected to each other, fasteningattachment members slidable on said. ribs and adapted and shaped so asto keep them in elastically close juxtaposition, flexible means forconnecting the ends of said sliding members with each other in such amanner as to keep them parallel to each other when closing the fastener,

said flexible means being so long as to allowthe entire closing of thefastener by means of the said sliding attachment members when the lastof the said sliding members is at the end of the extension of the saidribs, said extension of the said ribs being at least long enough foraccommodating all the said sliding members with flexible meansconnecting them on it, the flrst of said sliding members being adaptedto-be used as a handle for opening and closing the fastener, and meansfor securing the position of the last of the sliding members on saidribs.

JOHANNES FRANZE.

